In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, lawmakers and pundits have been stressing the need of the American people to make great “sacrifices.” With the country quickly approaching the debt ceiling, the talks have been growing more serious and the proposals more drastic. But despite the fact that the proposals in Washington are growing more extreme, the debate over what needs to be done about the economy seems quite narrow.

The debate simply breaks down to this: just how much should we cut? Granted, the idea of a tax hike for the super wealthy is being discussed as a viable option. But with the current political climate and with so many deficit hawks on Capitol Hill, I for one am feeling somewhat pessimistic as to whether a sufficient tax increase will happen. What does seem certain, however, is about four trillion dollars in entitlements cuts.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been assuring Americans that such cuts are truly best for the people and the economy. Does their demagoguery hold up? Of course not — though it is what’s best for the corporate elites who fear a significant tax hike to cover the debt and the inflation that would inevitably occur if the economy were to rebound quickly.

So, as per usual, Washington is siding with its friends in the business community and its representatives on K Street at the expense of the rest of us. Anyone who is serious about creating jobs and seeing economic growth in the U.S. knows that draconian austerity measures will only exasperate an already dire problem.

With so many debt incumbent Americans struggling to pay their health insurance, their mortgage, college debt, credit card debt and with unemployment, underemployment and poverty as high as they are in this country — most Americans are tightening their spending, in an attempt to offset their own balance sheets—subsequently hindering economic growth. Further cuts to social security, Medicaid and privatizing Medicare (which will undoubtedly be more expensive), will only result in even tighter spending and a stagnating, if not weaker economy.

Nobel prizewinning economist Joseph Stiglitz understands this perfectly well. Stiglitz not only predicted the crash but also the kind of entitlement cuts in our midst and their negative implications. Furthermore, he has contended numerous times since the fall of 2008 that if people are not spending the government has an obligation to create another stimulus package to relieve the burden of the many struggling Americans and to encourage spending.

Regrettably these ideas, which proved quite effective in the post-war period, are nowhere to be heard in today’s political dialogue. This is not terribly surprising given the “limited government” dogma that has permeated political discourse for decades. Nonetheless, it is terribly disappointing to only hear of proposals that are not only bad for the economy, but more importantly, proposals that will hurt millions of Americans.

With so many people struggling to get by, Americans should be looking less towards the empty promises of politicians and more towards the bona fide examples of democracy the world has recently witnessed in Wisconsin, Spain and Greece. The struggle against austerity measures and market fundamentalism overall is no easy task, but it is a far better alternative than the daily economic struggle facing most Americans.